What determines the THC or CBD Potency of Marijuana Plants

When you visit online seedbanks and breeders sites, you will be introduced to a lot of strains and hybrid marijuana varieties with its corresponding THC content or level. For some reason, it has become the fashion to state only the THC potency and not the other elements like CBD, THCV, CBC, CBL, and CBN. This is somehow erroneous because there are a lot of hybrids and even landrace varieties that are high in CBD and not THC as in the case of pure indica or indica dominated varieties. This could be the result of commercial considerations as the THC content has somehow become the barometer of a marijuana plant's potency and not the other substances that come with it.

As to the questions what determines the potency of THC or CBD of marijuana plants, the answer lies in its genetics. If a weed strain is a pure sativa, the tendency is for it to have higher THC than CBD thus giving a cerebral and uplifting high. As regards indica varieties, they have higher CBD than THC so the high is heavy on the body and will make you settle down rather than be energetic.

Over the years, there have been efforts to determine scientifically the accurate potency of marijuana plants in terms of its primary elements the THC and CBD but due to a prohibitive environment, the efforts did not fully materialize so what we have right now are not really accurate methods of determining the potency level of cannabis plants. The use of gas chromatography analysis as well as Cannalyse and other THC test kits also does not give much justice as of now in terms of accurately coming up with the THC percentage of marijuana plants.

If that is the case, how do breeders come up with their THC percent?

The only accurate way of testing THC percent is by way of doing it in laboratories. It is expensive but they could be doing it that's why they can give a percentage of THC potency in their pot strains.

What is CBN and how does it affect the high when I smoke it?

CBN is short for Cannabinol. It forms when THC starts to expire. It takes the place of THC and will give you terrible headache when smoked. Smoke it if you want to feel messed up. So don't smoke marijuana if you don't know exactly where it came from.